Adjustable shoe tree



Aug. 3l, 1948. l R. HUBBERT 2,448,431

lADJUSTABLE SHOE TREE Filed Dc. 17. 1945 ATTOR N EY Patented Aug. 3l, 1948 UNITED vS TATES PATENT OFFICE l 2,448,431 A 4 ADJUSTABLE snou TREE Robert Hubbert, Grosse Pointe, Mich. Application llecember 17, 1945, SefralNo. 635,487

3 Claims. 1

The invention relates to shoe trees and vhas for one of its objects to providean improved Vshoe tree in which the toe and heel pieces may be readily adjusted toward and away 'from each other.

The invention has for another object to provide an improved adjustable connection between the toe and heel pieces which may be easily adjusted.

The invention has for a further object to form the connection between the toe and heel pieces in the nature of a toggle joint to facilitate insertion and removal of the shoe tree into and from a shoe.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a shoe tree embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Figures 3 and 4 are cross sections on the lines 3-3 and 4 4, respectively, of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a cross section on the line 5-5 of Figure 2;

Figure 6 is a cross section on the line 6-5 of Figure 4.

The shoe tree comprises the toe piece I, the heel piece 2 and the adjustable connecting device 3.

The toe piece is formed of the lower and upper sheet metal sections 4 and 5, respectively, integrally connected by the end wall 6, the lower section having the inwardly offset upper edge por-- tion 1 over which extends the lower edge portion 8 of the upper section. These sections are secured together by forming their overlapping portions with the abutting tongues 9 which are sheared from the overlapping portions of the lower and upper sections. The end wall 6 is provided with the reinforcing ribs Illl depressed toward the front of the toe piece and the boss Ill between the ribs I and depressed rearwardly. The toe piece is hollow and the lower and upper sections 4 and 5 are formed with the longitudinally extending slots II and I 2', respectively, and the end wall 6 is of less width than the rear end of the toe piece to provide for circulation of air.

The heel piece 2 is formed of sheet metal and is hollow and is open toward the toe piece.

The adjustable connection 3 comprises the sheet metal clamping member I3 which is formed with the iiat top I4, the depending end wall I spaced from each other and also the depending resilient Wings I6 which normally diverge downwardly with respect to each other. The end walls are formed with the aligned openings I`| and the 2 wingsV are formed with the aligned openings I8 and terminate at their lower ends in the curved' finger grips I9. The device also comprises the,

rods 20 and'2I, both of which are U-shaped. Thel rod"20`has the base 22 of its U extending through the openings in the end =walls I5 and has the free end portions 23 of its legs extending toward each other and extending through openings in the side walls of the boss I0 of the toe piece ln the rear of the reinforcing ribs I0, the construction being such that the rod 20 is pivotally connected to both the toe piece I and the clamping member I3. The rod 2| has the free end portions of its legs xedly connected to the heel piece 2 by means of the tongues 25 struck out from the top of the heel piece and the tongues 26 struck out from the rear wall of the heel piece. The legs of this rod extend through the openings I3 in the wings I6 and are formed in advance of the clamping member I 3 to extend upwardly with the upper end portions connected by the base 21 of the U of the rod. 'Ihese upwardly extending portions and base form a finger grip to facilitate insertion of the shoe tree into a shoe and also removal from the shoe.

For the purpose of strengthening the U-shaped rod 20 and holding its legs from spreading apart, I have preferably provided the transverse rod 28 which is located below and extends transversely of and is ilxedly secured to the legs of the rod 20 as by being welded thereto.

With the above construction, the adjustable device 3 is in the nature of a toggle joint which, when the parts are in operative position in the shoe, has the pivotal connection between the rods 20 and 2| located below the line of the pivotal connection of the rod 20 to the toe piece I and the fixed connection of the rod 2| to the top of the heel piece 2. By pulling upwardly on the base 21 of the U-shaped rod 2| the toggle joint can be readily broken, at which time the heel piece pivots with the rod 2| until the pivotal connection between the rods has been elevated suiciently to permit ready removal of the heel piece from the shoe, after which the toe piece may be withdrawn. To insert the shoe tree the toe piece is first inserted into the shoe and then the heel piece is inserted, after which the knee of the toggle joint is depressed to locked position of the toggle joint. It is apparent that by moving the finger grips I9 toward each other the wings I6 release the legs of the rod 2|, after which it may be longitudinally adjusted and then the nger grips released so that the wings will resiliently clamp the legs of the y 3 rod 2| to hold it in adjusted position relative to the member I3.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A shoe tree comprising a hollow sheet metal toe piece, a hollow sheet metal heel piece, a sheet metal member having spaced end walls formed with aligned openings and also having resilient diverginfg Wings, a U-shaped rod having its base extending through the openings in said end walls and the free ends of its legs pivotally connected to said toe piece, and a U-shaped rod fxedly conclamped by said wings.

2. A shoe tree comprising a toe piece,l a :heel

piece, a rod pivotally connected to said toe piece, Y v

a member having spaced end Walls'or pivotally engaging the free end of said rod and also having end walls formed with aligned openings therein for receiving the free end of one of said rods and also having resilient diverging wings having aligned openings therein for receiving and adjustably clamping said other rod.

ROBERT HUBBERT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 976,194 Litcheld Nov. 22, 1910 1,222,470 Ross Apr. 10, 1917 2,019,340 De Witt Oct. 29, 1935 y FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 136,915 Great Britain Dec. 30, 1919 232,642 Germany Mar. 17, 1911 321,639 France Sept. 15,1902 324,535 Great Britain Jan. 30, 1930 360,641 France Mar. 3, 1906 

